Which health plan may actually cost you less, in about 4 minutes
The cheapest premium is not always the cheapest plan. Enter two plans and the care you expect, and see the full year side by side.
Want help understanding your results?
What this assumes
- Copays are treated as paid outside the deductible, which is how many plans work but not all of them. Check your own summary of benefits.
- Other medical costs run against the deductible first, then coinsurance applies to the remainder, and the out of pocket maximum caps what you pay.
- Prescription costs are added as entered and are not run through the deductible or any separate drug tier, because those vary enormously by plan.
- Premiums are never included in an out of pocket maximum, and they are not here either. Worst case adds a full year of premium to the plan's maximum.
- No employer contribution, HSA, subsidy or tax treatment is applied anywhere.
Reading your result
What this calculated
A full year for each plan: twelve months of premium, plus the deductible and coinsurance your expected care would trigger, plus copays and prescriptions, capped by that plan's out of pocket maximum.
Why the number matters
Premium is the number people compare because it is the one shown first. It is usually the smaller half of the decision once real care is entered.
What could change it
A single unexpected procedure moves a high deductible plan sharply and barely moves a low deductible one. That is the whole trade, and it is why the worst case column is shown next to the expected one.
Reasonable next steps
Run it twice: once with the care you expect, and once with a bad year. Choose the plan you could still afford in the second scenario, then confirm the details against each plan's summary of benefits.
This tool is educational and does not provide financial, investment, tax, legal or insurance advice. Results are estimates based only on the information you enter and the assumptions shown, they are not a quote, an offer of coverage or a promise of any outcome, and your actual situation will differ. Insurance guarantees are backed by the claims paying ability of the issuing insurance company. Speak with a licensed professional before acting on anything you see here.
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